


Report of the Committee Investigating the 
Use and Methods of Handling and 
Filing Newspaper Clippings 





REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE INVESTI- 
GATING THE USE AND METHODS 
OF HANDLING AND FILING 
NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS* 


School of 
Chairman of the 


Jesse Cunningham, Librarian, 
Mines, Rolla, Missouri. 
Committee. 


This committee has confined itself en- 
tirely to the investigation of the subject 
of clippings and presents, as a result of its 
labors, facts and suggestions from thirty- 
four libraries. A list of libraries selected 
from the membership of the Special Librar- 
ies Association with a few public libraries, 
some state libraries and legislative and mu- 
nicipal reference departments added, was 
used for the purpose of the investigation. 

The following questionaire was sent to 
the selected institutions: 

“In this inquiry the term ‘newspaper clip- 
ping’ is used in a broad sense including all 
clippings from whatever source. 

1. How do you obtain clippings? 

I. Independent reading and clipping? 
II. Subscription to clipping Bureaus? 


MVitaAL BUYeAUS . 6k. oe... 8 Is service 
BUISIACLOLY . s’o 3. ee eee MAUR A. eh: 
Merits ..Improvements suggested... 


-Do you check up such service by read- 
ine and. clipping ............ 


2. In doing independent clipping do you 
find that the arrangement of reading matter 
often requires the purchase of two copies 
RIESE Mc oncite a eats 5 bo tas 6 Bisein bts ane me 
What action could be taken to induce pub- 
lishers to better arrange material......... 


3. What is your method of treatment of 


clippings? 
I. Classification. 
Alphabetical ........ Dewey........ 
Geographical ...... Other systems... 


II. Methods of filing. 

BCE RUE DOOKAY © os sie ce bone eo hele 
PC ROLG: Sao... cones Vertical files......... 
Pamphlet boxes .......... Do you ever 
bind large and valuable pieces as a 
OPER EPIR LCG re ie hers aia nora ¢ blake, a/0k pinata a 
III. Indexing. 

4. How is dead and useless material elim- 
inated? 

5. To what uses do you put clippings? 

I. Advantages as collectable data. 
II. Disadvantages. 

6. Would you purchase clippings from 
magazines on special subjects that interest 
you?” 

Answers suitable for tabulating and di- 


*Presented at the Annual Convention Special Li- 
rsa Association, Hotel Kaaterskill, N. Y. June 24-26, 


gesting were received from the following 

institutions: 
American Telephone and Telegraph Co. 
Arthur D. Little Co., Inc. 
Baltimore Department of 

Reference. 

Bureau of Railway Economics Library. 
California State Library. 
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. 
Chicago Public Library, Bureau of Sta- 
tistics and Municipal Library. 
Cincinnati Public Library. 
Columbia University, School of Journal- 
ism. 
Commonwealth Edison Co. 
H. W. Wilson Co. 
Indiana Bureau of Decinre and Ad- 
ministrative Information. 
Insurance Library Association of Boston. 
Kansas City Municipal Reference Library. 
Library Association of Portland. 
Municipal League of Los Angeles. 
Milwaukee Public Library. 
National Carbon Co. 
National City Bank of New York. 
New York State Library. 
Official Information Bureau, New York 
City. 
Oregon Free Library Commission. 
Pennsylvania State Library. 
People’s Gas Light and Coke Co. 
Prudential Insurance Co. 
Public Service Commission of the First. 
District, New York. 
St. Joseph Public Library. 
St. Louis Public Library. 
St. Paul Public Library. 
Stone and Webster. 
Studebaker Corporation. 
U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
Worcester County Law Library. 


Legislative 


Methods of Obtaining Clippings 


Of the libraries reporting but few depend 
entirely on clipping bureaus for their sup- 
ply of clippings. Independent reading and 
clipping is the main source of this material. 
In some cases both methods are used but 
the clipping bureau is depended upon for 
clippings of some special subject, for in- 
stance, the New York State Library sub- 
scribes for clippings on the libraries of the 
state; the Indiana Bureau of Legislative 
and Administrative Information has its lo- 
cal needs supplied by state clipping service; 
the National City Bank of New York City 
subscribes to Romeike for clippings on the 
bank and its president. 

The Arthur D. Little Company and the 
United States Forest Service have very effi- 
cient service and the methods of these two 
libraries are very similar in that intended 
clipping is indicated and done by experts. 
The Arthur D. Little Company circulates 
a large number of periodicals among defin- 


ite readers. Each magazine is either bound 
or clipped. The magazines to be clipped 
are returned to the library marked for clip- 
ping and clipped by the staff. 

-The Forest Service receives some seventy 
papers as exchanges for news items. These 
papers are read and clipped by a clerk of 
the department. Under general instructions 
to Forest officers and other field men in the 
Forestry Districts many clippings are gath- 
ered from various parts of the country. The 
Washington office is also supplied by Luce’s 
Press Clipping Bureau and indirectly by a 
number of other bureaus. The several dis- 
tricts of the Forest Service with headquar- 
ters in different states are also supplied by 
various clipping bureaus. 


The National Carbon Company receives a 
large number of technical magazines be- 
sides many house organs. These are read 
over every week by the members of the 
Publicity Department who make a note of 
all articles of interest or value to any of 
the company’s employees. The titles of 
such articles together with a short criticism 
are printed every week and distributed to 
each employee who desires a copy. This 
weekly sheet circulates among the employ- 
ees and is returned to the Publicity Depart- 
ment signed by each man showing the ar- 
ticles in which he is interested. Magazines 
lie for one week on the table of the reading 
room where every one can see them. 

In looking over the magazines such arti- 
cles as are worth filing are numbered ac- 
cording to the Dewey decimal system and 
filed on large cards kept in a card index 
drawer. When the magazines return from 
circulation they are filed in the case for 
one year. Important ones are permanently 
bound and the others are put in temporary 
loose leaf binders. Those of little import- 
ance are destroyed after the articles which 
are to be filed have been clipped. These 
articles are then placed in envelopes and 
filed along with the corresponding card in 
the. drawer. Clipping bureaus are never 
used. Whenever an article of interest is 
noted in a periodical not taken, the com- 
pany purchases a copy. 

The H. W. Wilson Company clips ma- 
terial in advance only on subjects for which 
there is quite certain to be a demand. All 
material is filed by subject and the Read- 
ers’ Guide to Periodical Literature is fol- 
lowed quite closely for the headings. When 
requests from customers are received the 
Readers’ Guide is immediately consulted 
and then it will be found that the files con- 
tain a good proportion of the articles in- 
dexed there. A great deal of miscellaneous 
material, a good many pamphlets and large 
publications from many sources are se- 
cured. Experiments are being made with 
some methods of reproduction with the idea 
that copies of articles will be sold rather 
than loaned. . 

-The California State Library: keeps for 


historical purposes files of newspapers 
from every county in the state. An index 
covering important items from August 15, 
1846 to date is kept. This index is on cards 
and to it are being added references to 
any items that may be needed again. Clip- 
pings are not needed. If an item is wanted 
in separate form or in a convenient form 
to loan or give away, it is cameragraphed. 
In the case of magazine articles the camera- 
graph is used and as many duplicates can 
be made as are wanted. If the magazine 
is not in the library the Union Catalogue 
tells where it is located. The magazine 
is then borrowed and the article camera- 
graphed. 


Arrangement of Material for Clipping 


It frequently happens that extra copies 
of a paper must be secured or the least 
valuable clipping discarded. In the case of 
newspapers the overlapping material may 
be typewritten. With magazines it is some- 
times possible to remove the pages entire, 
saving the ones containing the desired ar- 
ticle. These can be fixed together and 
mounted by pasting the margins. 

The School of Journalism of Columbia 
University very often is required to pur- 
chase two copies of a paper. In the case 
of the London Times, it is necessary to buy 
twenty such copies in a year. Where there 
is a set of New York dailies used, the staple 
news can generally be found in another 
paper, if in one paper, it is back to back. 
In several cases the subscription calls for 
two copies of a paper. The Saturday edi- 
tion of the New York Evening Post is an 
example. 

A general publicity campaign complain- 
ing against-the prevailing conditions might 
induce publishers to better arrange their 
material, then the success will depend 
largely upon the liberality of the publisher 
and his willingness to co-operate. It has 
been suggested that newspapers print the — 
news matter on one side of a sheet and the 
advertisements on the reverse side. Maga- 
zine publishers might be induced to com- 
mence all leading articles on the right- 
hand page. 

The problem is a large and difficult one 
and it is almost chimerical to expect the 
make-up-man of a newspaper or magazine 
to consider clipping needs. 


Service of Clipping Bureaus 


The verdict seems to be almost unani- 
mous against the clipping bureaus. Better 
results and more. satisfaction is had from 
independent reading and clipping. The best 
that can be said of the bureaus is that their 
service is fairly satisfactory. 

Experience seems to show that the vari- 
ous press clipping bureaus differ little in 
their efficiency. They give satisfaction 
within certain definite limitations.. In three 
cases, one library sent the. same. instrue~ 
tions to three bureaus at the same time and: 


it was apparent, chiefly, that the bureaus 
did not read enough scientific and techni- 
cal or trade papers in order to send ex- 
haustive material. For simple general sub- 
jects the service rendered is often satisfac- 
tory. For specific information, the service 
is short of what is desired, furnishing only 
a clue to the desired information or happen- 
ing. . 

The fundamental fault is lack of scope 
and completeness due to the limited num- 
ber of papers read. For scientific purposes 
the service is of no practical use. Minor 
faults are mutilation of articles, the fact 
that clippers do not learn what is worth 
while, crediting clippings to wrong papers 
and slowness in delivery. 

Suggested improvements are more intel- 
ligent clippers and broadening of the scope 
to include something besides newspaper 
clippings on an order for definite technical 
matter. 


Classification 


Of the twenty-five libraries using some 
definite scheme of classification, ten use the 
Dewey decimal system; ten an alphabetical 
arrangement by subjects; four their own 
special numeric scheme; and one a geo- 
graphical arrangement. 

The Arthur D. Little Company employs 
the Dewey decimal system carried into 
great detail using the French expansion of 
the Institut International de Bibliographie, 
the Illinois Engineering Experiment Station 
expansion, Wyer’s: expansion of “Agricul- 
ture,’ and Hess on “Automobiles.” 

The Columbia University School of Jour- 


nalism follows the Dewey system rigorous- 


ly. It has combined number after number 
so that for instance, the present war of 
Macedonia would be 949.6.08.324.1913. The 
reason for these numbers will appear to 
any one sufficiently familiar with the Dewey 
classification. 

Where an alphabetical arrangement by 
subjects is followed, the subject headings 
of the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Litera- 
ture are used. In some cases it has been 
found advantageous to divide the subject 
geographically. 

The geographical classification fits the 
needs of Stone and Webster better than any 
other scheme, the geographical numbers be- 
ing assigned by taking an atlas and arbi- 
trarily making divisions beginning at 1100 
for Maine and ending at 6100 for Washing- 
ton, with higher numbers for foreign coun- 
tries. 

In several legislative reference depart- 
ments the special numeric scheme used for 
other material is applied to clippings. 


Methods of Filing 


Two methods of filing seem to predomin- 
ate, the vertical file being used extensively 
and manila mounts with pasted clippings 
in condition for binding or lacing together. 
With collections of considerable size, a 


combination of several methods is used. 
The New York State Library puts material 
classified by subject in vertical files. Of 
this material the more important clippings 
included on one side of a page are usually 
mounted on punched or unpunched manila 
sheets. Clippings printed on both sides of 
the page, those on New York libraries, de- 
bates material, any which should be made 
available quickly, but which the library 
cannot afford the time to mount are filed 
unmounted in manila folders, envelopes, or 
pockets. Extracts from magazines are usu- 
ally stapled and fastened into manila cov- 
ers with gummed tape. When there are 
enough clippings on one topic.to make it 
desirable, they are put into a binder and 
treated as a book. 


The prevailing custom among legislative 
reference libraries is to paste the clippings 
on card board or manila sheets. These 
sheets are then shelved with the books in 
pamphlet boxes and when those on one sub- 
ject get to be of sufficient bulk, they are 
bound together, one and one-half inch be- 
ing allowed at the left-hand of the sheet 
for punching and binding. In some cases 
the manila sheets are filed in vertical files, 
but an objection is raised to this method 
that one does not find all the material on a 
subject in one place. 


The date and source should be noted on 
each clipping. With ordinary newspaper 
clippings manila envelopes 114x8%4 inches 
(the size may vary) are occasionally used, 
each subject having a separate envelope 
and each envelope having a classification 
number and the subject written on the out- 
side. Magazine separates are often placed 
in manila folders and kept in permanent 
form with staples. The title of the article, 
the source, date, and class number are writ- 
ten on the folder. These separates and the 
envelopes containing the newspaper clip- 
pings are kept in pamphlet boxes which 
have labels showing the class number and 
the subjects of the material they contain. 
Valuable material is pasted on mounts of 
uniform size and treated as if it were a 
magazine separate. 

The use of scrap books is limited to a 
very few libraries. Some public libraries 
use these books for material of a permanent 
nature and treat them in the same manner 
as books. An ideal arrangement suggested 
by Mr. Bostwick of the St. Louis Public 
Library is to have a scrap book or pamphlet 
box at the end of each class with the 
shelved books. For example, at the class 
325.1 a scrap book or phamphlet box could 
be placed to receive all clippings on emi- 
gration and immigration. Thus the printed 
matter in the books of this class would be 
supplemented by up-to-date material from 
newspapers and magazines. 

Scrap books have been tried and found ~ 
useless by the Columbia University School 
of Journalism. Various forms of pocket and 


vertical files are found useful for a collec- 
tion which is not going to run over 20,000 
or 30,000 clippings. Envelopes in boxes are 
a useful device. The School of Journalism 
keeps its collection for the most part in 
large envelopes. Plays and small biogra- 
phies are kept in small envelopes. The 
“morgue” has the obituaries of about 
120,000 persons. Distributed in small en- 
velopes are small notices and large envel- 
opes contain larger items. 

Gaylord pockets and other such binders 
are not extensively used, but they might 
be quite adaptable to the handling of clip- 
pings. However, this would be a rather 
expensive method where classification is 
very minute. It might require a pocket 
for a single clipping with little chance that 
there would be others added for a long time 
to come. 

Continuous articles which run through 
several numbers of a magazine can be 
bound as a book in inexpensive buckram, 
in fact large and valuable pieces are regu- 
larly bound in several instances. 


Indexing 


With the use of the Dewey decimal sys- 
tem of classification, the relative index to 
the classification serves as an index to the 
collection of clippings. In the case of an 
alphabetical subject arrangement in envel- 
opes and vertical files the scheme is self- 
indexing. By following the subject head- 
ings in the Readers’ Guide that Guide can 
be made to serve as an index to the clip- 
pings. In some cases where the Dewey 
system is used the index has been trans- 
ferred to cards in order that it may be made 
a more workable tool. When a new subject 
is added a card is made for the index under 
the subject noting the classification number 
assigned to the clipping. 

In one instance, that of the Arthur D. 


Little Company, indexing has been done 


very minutely, in some cases several sub- 
ject cards being made for one clipping. An 
author card is made if the article is signed. 
A plain title card is used for the main card 
in all cases and from this card the subject 
entries are keyed. When a clipping con- 
tains a secondary article which could not 
be separated, a card is made for the second- 
ary item as in the case of the primary ar- 
ticle, almost in the same manner as an 
analytical for a book. 


Elimination of Dead Material 


The iron clad rule of the librarian to 
throw nothing away is abandoned in the 
case of clippings. In but few instances do 
we find no elimination whatever. A few 
have found it worth while to keep every- 
thing as it proves useful sometime. 

Periodical revision is a customary method 
of eliminating old material. The period of 
revision varies from one to five years. In 
some cases a file of temporary clippings is 
kept for one year, at the end of which 


period material still useful is transferred to 
a permanent file and the remainder is dis- 
carded. 

The New York State Library discards un- 
desirable clippings when they are received 
from the clipping bureau and before they 
are classified. The Legislative Reference 
Department plans to remove from its files 
each year and turn over to the general li- 
brary any material of ephemeral interest 
which is over five years old, preserving 
permanently all bibliographic material and 
comparative studies. 


Use and Value 

The information and data contained in 
books is generally out of date before the 
printer’s ink is dry. Newspaper clippings 
and magazine separates fill the gap. Also 
in the present day some subjects are so 
new that no books have been written on 
them. Here again the clippings meet the 


need. The data obtained in this way would 


otherwise escape and the collection of the 
information would require considerable 
time if one were dependent on published 
reports. 

Local clippings are considered a fairly 
good history of the municipal affairs of the 
city. For corporations and publicity bu- 
reaus a collection of clippings is invaluable 
for furnishing general news to the execu- 
tive officers and for advertising sources and 
sales. In following new business they sup- 
ply a need and instances are known where 
clippings were of great value in law suits. 

Public libraries can supply the branches 
and schools with material for debates and 
current topics from such a collection. Leg- 
islative reference workers depend to a large 
extent on clippings for a clue to the real 
information desired. 
class of library, clippings and other fugi- 
tive material are the life-saver of the inves- 
tigator. 

The Forestry Service uses clippings as 
a source of information concerning public 
sentiment. They afford knowledge of criti- 
cisms that require investigation. Some- 
times they supply data concerning forest 
fires and other subjects and they provide 
historical records of important events of 
the public aspects of forestry. 

The “morgue” at the School of Journal- 
ism of Columbia has been growing since 
1873 and now from twenty to thirty pre- 
faces express obligation for the use of the 
material. 

Disadvantages 


The chief fault to be found with clippings. 


is that they are not wholly reliable, their 
authenticity being often questioned. The 
labor and cost of arranging in workable 
order loom rather large and this sort of 
material gets out of date rapidly. It is 
superseded by later official reports necessi- 
tating constant elimination. 

The tendency is to accumulate too much 
dead material. 


In the work of this 


Purchasing Clippings on Special Subjects 

Twenty-four libraries replied to the ques- 
‘tion, “Would you purchase clippings on spe- 
cial subjects.” Eleven institutions are in- 
clined to subscribe to such services, the 
remaining thirteen preferring to purchase 
the papers or magazines for the special 
material when they desire information ap- 
pearing on any special subject. A few spe- 
cial libraries already avail themselves of 
the services of the Engineering Magazine 
which holds itself ready to supply copies 
of all articles listed in the Engineering In- 
dex. 


Conclusions 


1. This investigation shows that the chief 
source of clippings is independent reading 
and clipping by the institutions themselves. 
The service of the clipping bureau seldom 
meets the needs and for scientific and tech- 
nical purposes is almost valueless. The 
needs of each institution are better satis- 
fied when the clipping and collecting is 
done by the institution’s staff who are thor- 
oughly familiar with the demands to be 
met. 

2. The Dewey decimal classification and 
its various expansions is most widely used: 
The alphabetical arrangement by subjects 
following the headings of the Readers’ 
Guide to Periodical Literature ranks along 
side the Dewey and has many advocates. 


3. The manila and card board mounts 
with the clippings pasted on them in such 
a way as to allow binding and shelving with 
other material on the same subject seems 
a satisfactory method of filing. Large and 
valuable pieces are bound as books. Ver- 
tical files have their advocates and are used 
extensively. 

4. The Dewey decimal system of classifi- 
cation provides its own relative index. The 
alphabetical arrangement by subjects is 
self-indexing and there is the Readers’ 
Guide in addition. Full cataloging of clip- 
pings is ideal, but expensive. 

5. The ephemeral character of the mater- 
ial requires constant elimination. 

6. Clippings may be used the same as 
books and are often required to supplement 
printed books which are out of daté as soon 
as published. For debates work and legis- 
lative reference they have great value. 

7. The advantages claimed for clippings 
are their up-to-dateness, timeliness, small 
cost, convenience to send by post, flexibil- 
ity, compactness, and they are very fre- 
quently the only material to be had on a 
subject when it is alive. A leading dis- 
advantage is, the material is not entirely 
reliable, often being found inaccurate and 
sometimes entirely wrong and misleading. 
The labor and cost of arranging is great. 
They are difficult to index and the tendency 
is to accumulate too much dead material. 


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